Athletes are not just athletes, they are students, employees, boyfriends, girlfriends, sons, daughters, friends and more. However, when on the mat, in the gym, or on the court you want them to be athletes and only athletes. You want them to put aside other roles, responsibilities and concerns of the day and focus on the task at hand. Having discussions with your athletes about the importance of leaving other roles and responsibilities to times other than practice or competition. Teach them how to do this.

A football coach used the following process to get his players to "be athletes and only athletes" during practice. Preparing for practice, athletes remove their street clothes, symbolizing removing other roles of the day and leaving all the baggage in the locker room. Putting on the football gear symbolizes the process of becoming an athlete. The final piece of gear - the helmet (for other athletes this can be swim goggles, wrestling mouthpeice, tying shoes, or knee pads) symbolizes that they are now an athlete and only an athlete.

Teach your athletes to use some act related to practice preparation to serve as their cue to make a mental shift to being athletes.

Have a Reason

Remind athletes to identify a daily goal that will serve as a reason to train with a purpose and intensity on a daily basis. Ask athletes to answer one question before beginning practice (i.e.either silently or out loud), "What are you going to work on today to make yourself a better athlete?" Answering this question brings purpose to training as opposed to going through the motions. Daily goals provide personal, individual reasons to train with intensity; this is especially valuable on days when motivation is lacking.

Keep a Log

Teach athletes to be accountable for what they do on a daily basis. Keeping a training log is an invaluable tool to help athletes monitor and evaluate daily performance. Training logs can be used by athletes to track what they do in training, what worked in training, what didn't work, a success of the day, lessons learned, etc. Knowing at the end of the day they must account for and evaluate what they did in practice serves as in impetus to quality training.

Turn Up the Mental Flame

Structure the training environment so it is both a physical and mental endeavor with the mind and body working as one. You can bring quality to training by working with athletes to increase their mental "flame" or intensity.

It often seems as if the physical intensity of training is high like the flame on a stove burning brightly, but mental intensity is not always equally high - the flame is often only a flicker. A disconnect between mental and physical intensity is when the body is working but the mind is not in sync. At these times, athletes may be singing a song to themselves, joking with teammates, making plans for the evening or taking in the scenery, but they are not attending to the task at hand!

Link Training to Competition

Given that athletes are training to prepare for competition, making a clear link between what they are doing in training and the challenges or demands they will be facing in competition can bring quality to training. This is especially beneficial for aspects of training that athletes don't like or struggle through as there is a tendency to just want to "get it over with." Bring to athletes' attention the relationship between what you ask of them in training and the demands of competition. While it may be obvious to you, it may not be as obvious to your athletes.

For example, heavy power days in the gym can be linked to needed explosiveness off the blocks in swimming or out of the blocks in track. Or, endurance work such as distance running for a wrestlers, taekwondo, or judo athletes can be linked to the final 30 seconds of competition when both competitors are reaching physical and mental fatigue.

Work with athletes to bring quality to their training. Communicate that everyday they will make either a deposit or a withdrawal to their training bank. It is their choice. As their coach, provide them with an effective strategy to ensure each day has a deposit.